Intimate partner violence and women’s mental health during the pandemic

INTRODUCTION: When considered within the scope of measures and measures taken under pandemic conditions, women’s mental health and violence against women, which is a global public health problem, are affected in adapting to changing living conditions. Our study aims to determine the intimate partner violence (IPV) and mental status of women during the pandemic period and to compare the mental health of women and the situation of IPV.
METHODS: This study is descriptive relation seeking and was carried out between March and April 2021 through online using Google Forms. During the pandemic period, 204 women were reached to determine their anxiety, depression, and IPV status. The data were collected with a form that included the demographic characteristics of women, their exposure to IPV and the types of violence they were exposed to, the “Generalized Anxiety Disorder-7 (GAD-7),” and the Patient Health Questionnaire (PHQ-9).
RESULTS: It was determined that there was an increase in women’s exposure to IPV during the pandemic period, emotional violence, and controlling behavior were the highest, and normal-mild anxiety and mild-moderate depression were the majority in the GAD-7 and PHQ-9 scale sub-dimensions. In addition, it was found that anxiety and depression scores increased in parallel with the increase in physical, sexual, and emotional violence and controlling behaviors.
DISCUSSION AND CONCLUSION: As a result of this study, the problems experienced during the pandemic period caused an increase in women’s exposure to partner violence and anxiety and depression levels. It is noteworthy that IPV has an effect on the increase in anxiety and depression levels. In this context, our study will be a solid foundation for developing an effective psychological intervention for women during the pandemic period.